The Board of Deputies is urging John McDonnell to stand down as honorary president of a hard-left group that rushed to defend Jackie Walker, who was expelled from the party for making comments that were "grossly detrimental" to the party about Jewish people and antisemitism.
The Labour Representation Committee has a record of “repeatedly defended and campaigned for individuals…denying the problem of antisemitism” in the party, the Board said, noting it also defended expelled member Tony Greenstein and suspended MP Chris Williamson.
The LRC published a statement about Ms Walker, calling her expulsion a "travesty of justice", claiming she had been "persecuted".
Board President Marie van der Zyl said the shadow chancellor’s continued affiliation with the LRC was a “great concern to the Jewish community.”
Mr McDonnell met with the LRC as recently as last month, when he spoke at its annual conference and gave complaints about the party's treatment of Ms Walker treatment a sympathetic ear.
Mrs van der Zyl pointed out that Ms Walker “appears to remain the LRC’s equalities officer”, while Mr Greenstein is still listed on the LRC’s “friends and affiliates” page.
The Board president wrote that Mr McDonnell had “rightfully acknowledged on a number of occasions that antisemitism is a problem in the Labour party”, but said that she hoped he would “match these words with actions”, by standing down as the LRC’s president.
The Board’s letter follows a similar request in February from the Jewish Labour Movement, ahead of Mr McDonnell addressing the LRC’s annual conference.
The JLM said that in December, the LRC had released a 39-point statement, which included the suggestion that allegations of Jew-hate were "propaganda" from the "ruling class" designed to stop Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister.
The statement also described “false accusations… intended to weaponise the accusations of antisemitism against Labour" and defended “criticism of Israel, up to and including the argument by many that, as a colonial settler state, it is an intrinsically racist endeavour.”
The IHRA definition of antisemitism includes describing Israel as a racist endeavour among its examples of potential Jew-hate.
JLM urged Mr McDonnell to resign as president of the group, saying: "LRC are feeding the problem and unless they change their position of condoning and nurturing this racism in our party then you cannot and should not have anything further to do with them and they also should have no place in the Labour Party."
Last September, when asked about the LRC in an interview with the Jewish News, Mr McDonnell said he was “not going to disassociate myself from an organisation I founded because they disagree with me or I disagree with them on these particular issues".
He added: “On most issues I do agree with them and they have been a beneficial force in the Labour party and in other policy areas.”
